Santorini Wines: tale as old as time…

«Wine is life». With these simple and plain words Horace, the Roman lyrical poet, described one for which many others before him and after, braided praise and left quotations in history with a glass of wine in hand, so as to inspire others.

Have a glass of wine, probably the most wanted greek wine in the world, Assyrtiko and raise the bar of taste, in Santorini, the prime wine destination . Gaze over the Aegean sea from famous Caldera, enjoy the breath taking sunset from our astonishing hotel, Sophia Luxury Suites , or from Sigalas Domaine in Oia.

With award-winning wines under his belt, like Vinsanto PDO 2006, Assyrtiko Athiri PDO 2015 and our favorite Kavalieros PDO 2014, the experience is one of a kind. Combine a tour through the vineyards, taste 10 different labels from Domaine Sigalas, while local products, such as Fava Beans, Cherry Tomato, Fresh Goat Cheese (Chloro), Capers and pickled Caper leaves, etc., are presented to you.

When the spring comes, the vines grow. But what makes Santorini special is that, as Adam Teeter said, “vines grow in tight bunches, packed close to the earth along the rocks, as if seeking as much shelter as they can get from the strong gusts of sea air. It is this sea air, along with the soil that is rich in volcanic ash that imparts the refreshing acidity for which the wine has become so well known”.

The most famous local wines are the following: Brusco, from the Venetian Middle Ages, a rough, tannic wine. Its name comes from the Italian world “brusco” that means rough. Nychteri, is a dry white wine which name derives from the Greek word for “night” (“nychta”), because the grapes were pressed during night. Vinsanto, the “star” of Santorini wines, is a traditional dessert wine with a deep orange-red color with brown tints. The origin of its name lays in two different stories: 1) Italian for sacred wine (vino santo), 2) Italian “vino di Santorini” (wine of Santorini). There are dozens of wineries to taste them all. The most famous are Sigalas Domaine, Santo Wines, Estate Argyros, Art Space and Santorini Wine Museum-Koutsoyannopoulos Winery, etc.

But, we save the best for last… Thalassitis (sea originated wine)
It all started as an experiment in 2010! Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, one of the two owners of Gaia estate, in order to affect the aging process, submerged into a depth of 15 meters below sea level 450 bottles of wine, from which, 5 years later, only 3 were not broken. But in 2011, 211 bottles were dredged from the seabed, unveiling a bone-dry wine with strong character: full-bodied, well-structured with crisp acidity, distinctive minerality and delicate honeysuckle aromas.